This invention relates to: a C-seal for use in a pump; a vertical centrifugal pump with oil lubrication; a pump with threaded shaft position adjustment capability; and/or a pump including an anti-vibration wedge disposed between the bearing frame and bearing housing.
Centrifugal chemical processing pumps are old and well-known in the art. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,396, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Such pumps often utilize O-rings for certain sealing functions. Unfortunately, such O-rings are often designed so as to be temperature sensitive, and prone to failure at very high temperatures. Thus, there exists a need in the art for a seal for use in any type of pump that is capable of withstanding high temperatures and/or corrosive materials or conditions.
Horizontally oriented pumps (e.g. see the ""396 patent) typically utilize oil as a lubricant. However, known vertically oriented pumps often use grease as a lubricant instead of oil due to the vertical orientation and cost effectiveness. Grease is not as desirable as oil for lubrication purposes. Thus, there exists a need in the art for a vertical pump capable of using oil as a lubricant instead of grease.
Pump seal assemblies or dry ends are often designed so as to mechanically fit with only wet ends made by the manufacturer of the pump. Thus, there exists a need in the art for a pump capable of being easily adjustable so as to be capable of fitting different sized wet ends from a variety of manufacturers.
It is a purpose of this invention to fulfill any or all of the above-described needs in the art, as well as other needs which will become apparent to the skilled artisan from the following detailed description of this invention.
Generally speaking, this invention fulfills any or all of the above described needs in the art by providing a seal system for sealing a pump shaft to a first annular sleeve surround the shaft, the system comprising:
said pump shaft;
said first annular sleeve radially surrounding at least a portion of said shaft;
a second annular sleeve coaxial with said first sleeve, at least a portion of said second sleeve radially surrounding at least a portion of said first sleeve;
a flexible annular sealing member;
first and second annular support members disposed on opposite axial sides of said flexible annular sealing member, respective, so that said flexible annular sealing member is at least partially axially between portions of said first and second annular support members; and
wherein said second sleeve applies a force to at least one of said first and second annular support members thereby causing said flexible sealing member to be energized so as to form a seal between said shaft and said first annular sleeve.
This invention further fulfills any or all of the above described needs in the art by providing a centrifugal pump for pumping a fluid to be pumped, the centrifugal pump comprising:
a motor;
a fluid pumping impeller;
a shaft disposed between said motor and said impeller so that said motor can drive or rotate said shaft and said impeller;
at first seal having an annular rotating sealing member affixed to said shaft for rotation therewith and an annular stationary sealing member, said rotating and stationary sealing members working together to form a fluid sealing interface therebetween;
an approximately C-shaped annular sealing member having first and second flexible sealing legs spaced from one another; and
an annular spring disposed between said first and second legs for biasing said first and second legs away from one another into respective sealing positions.
This invention further fulfills any or all of the above described needs in the art by providing a vertical pump comprising:
a rotatable shaft normally oriented in an approximately vertical manner;
a first bearing structure supporting said shaft;
a second bearing structure supporting said shaft, said second bearing structure being normally located entirely at an elevation above said first bearing structure;
an oil reservoir chamber located at an elevation below each of said first and second bearing structures;
an impeller affixed to said shaft for rotation therewith within said oil reservoir chamber; and
said impeller including means for pumping oil from said oil reservoir chamber through at least a first passageway so that the pumped oil is reintroduced at an elevation above at least one of said first and second bearing structures.
In certain vertical pump embodiments, said impeller includes means for pumping oil out of said oil reservoir chamber through said first passageway and a second passageway so that oil that exits said chamber via said first passageway is reintroduced at an elevation above an elevation where oil that exits said chamber via said second passageway is. The means may be pumping vanes or other pumping structure in certain embodiments.